Fairfax
County Releases Bodycam Video of Police Shooting
Fairfax
County police released body camera video and dispatch calls from a
police-involved shooting that wounded a woman last month.
The
woman who was shot appeared to be having a mental health crisis as she
threatened residents and police.
A
caregiver at the group home for adults with intellectual disabilities called
911 and told the dispatcher, “She’s making noise, breaking things. She wants to
fight … she wants to kill me.”
Women
retreated to the basement. A third person locked themselves in their room.
Then
the suspect said she was going to kill herself.
K9
officers first responded to the 911 calls. With guns drawn, they entered the
home and found a 30-year-old resident armed with a kitchen knife. The woman
turned her threats toward them, moving in their direction.
An
officer shot the woman in the stomach, and she dropped the knife.
Officers
immediately helped the woman, reassuring her she was going to be alright.
The
woman is recovering from the gunshot wound.
Fairfax
County Police Chief Kevin Davis believes the video shows the veteran
officers had little choice but to act to protect themselves and others in the
home.
“That’s
tough to watch, but they were doing the best they absolutely could under a very
tough circumstance,” he said.
Though,
neither officer had a taser, Davis doubts they would have had time to try less
than lethal force. But it underscores a problem he plans to address: Not every
officer is assigned a taser.
“I
want to go so far as to assign them individually to police officers so that
they are immediately available,” he said.
The
investigation is ongoing. The officer who fired his gun is on restricted duty.
The woman faces charges of assault on a law enforcement officer.
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